PlannedAssault web based mission builder

[blackpulpit 10]

Hello, I signed up and created my first mission and was wondering how long it takes to build the mission, it says to click on the download link but there is nothing there? does it take a while? thanks.

[Honeycutt 10]

A BIG THANK YOU for Planned Assault. Can't believe I have only noticed this now. I knew the ARMA2 mod community was good, never thought it would be this good.

Keep up the good work.

[BigMorgan 11]

Hello, I signed up and created my first mission and was wondering how long it takes to build the mission, it says to click on the download link but there is nothing there? does it take a while? thanks.

I had a lot of trouble with this my first time. I think by the time I finally just let things happen and was willing to wait it took almost 15 minutes.

In the end though you'd spend 3-4 times that in the editor just sync'ing waypoints so it's well worth it!

[Villain. 11]

Thanks for keeping this updated, William. :D It's an excellent tool, and very easy to use, i've shown a few (new to Arma) friends and they're loving it.

It's also a great way to pass time at work. :p

Will you be adding the BAF pack when it's released or will you stick with the user-made British addons instead? (or both?)

[Killerwatt 0]

Only just found this yesterday and signed up. Problem I have is that all the download buttons for British vehicles combined with Brit 3 rifles crew are dead links. If I aready have the vehicles and 3 rifles downloaded, is there anything else I need?

Edited August 17, 2010 by Killerwatt

[Muahaha 10]

Great site! loving it. Just wondering whether the map on the website can it be made larger for more precise unit placement? quite often have a few soldiers on roofs and fell to their doom.

[blackpulpit 10]

Yeah it did create my mission, just takes patience. Is it best to place your units on the map at some distance and use transportation to get to the battle? I too had a mission that needed some long walk time. Will the new British addon from BIS be implemented when available? thanks for a great tool.

[pikkon 10]

CZ Snipers calling for wrong model I think.

CZ_Soldier_Sniper_DES_EP1 isnt it CZ_Soldier_Sniper_EP1?

[DSegrin 0]

Your Registration for the Web Site is not working. I never receive a EMail.

[_William 0]

Your Registration for the Web Site is not working. I never receive a EMail.

Hi. Apologies for the sign-ups problems. Several providers, including comcast.net, gmx.de and web.de, are consistently refusing any email originating from my hosting provider.

Over 1,000 others have been successful activating their account using for example, gmail, hotmail, yahoo, aol, live/msn, btinternet, ntlworld. I recommend to create a free account with one of these providers.

William

---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 PM ----------

British Armed Forces DLC pack supported

On returning from my holidays, Bohemia released their British Armed Forces (BAF) DLC. Hurrah! I've added this for Arma2:OA and Arma2:CO, with Arma2:CO also getting BAF crewed variants of the P:UKF EWMIK LandRovers and Jackal1's. Also added the "heavy" Tier One operators for McNools' latest 3.1 version.

For details see this update.

Note that the BAF DLC requires Arma2OA to be patched to 1.54, which contains an AI bug causing units to get stuck. I recommend running PlannedAssault missions with a newer version (1.55 when available) or the latest patch (72967 or newer) to avoid that problem.

Next steps

- air assaults (web interface done, planner capable of picking LZs and planning ingress/egress routes, mission planning to be done)

---------- Post added at 06:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

I had a lot of trouble with this my first time. I think by the time I finally just let things happen and was willing to wait it took almost 15 minutes.

In the end though you'd spend 3-4 times that in the editor just sync'ing waypoints so it's well worth it!

BigMorgan: indeed, mission planning might take as much as 15 minutes although that is quite unusual. Six to seven minutes is more usual.

Longer planning time typically result from the presence of many armored IFVs on the defense, causing the mission planner to consider a large amount of alternatives for counter-attacks.

The air assault extension I'm working is also consuming a lot of time in figuring out a good ingress route for the helicopters.

Would an option to email the generated mission to you once available make life easier?

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------

Great site! loving it. Just wondering whether the map on the website can it be made larger for more precise unit placement? quite often have a few soldiers on roofs and fell to their doom.

Thanks! I could scale up the map but it wouldn't solve your problem.

Groups are formation placed, where Arma2 determines detailed placement for each of the members. I've seen Arma2 place some group members on roof tops myself while placing the group leader elsewhere.

I'm blaming the Arma2 which should 'formation place' groups in such a way that each group member can safely reach the group leader.

---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 PM ----------

CZ Snipers calling for wrong model I think.

CZ_Soldier_Sniper_DES_EP1 isnt it CZ_Soldier_Sniper_EP1?

Good catch. Fixed in latest update.

Edited August 30, 2010 by _William

[BigMorgan 11]

BigMorgan: indeed, mission planning might take as much as 15 minutes although that is quite unusual. Six to seven minutes is more usual.

Longer planning time typically result from the presence of many armored IFVs on the defense, causing the mission planner to consider a large amount of alternatives for counter-attacks.

The air assault extension I'm working is also consuming a lot of time in figuring out a good ingress route for the helicopters.

Would an option to email the generated mission to you once available make life easier?

Personally I felt the wait was more than bearable. Maybe add some clearer "instructions" at that point of the process that will inform first-time users that once they submit the mission it will be processed and compiled, which could take some time.

Basically the waiting wasn't a problem but the first time I used the site I honestly didn't know it would take a few minutes to compile the mission :o

[scajolly 14]

This is positively fantastic. Magnificent work.

I second that when the mission is being created, you should make it clear, perhaps through stating it bluntly, that they should not click any buttons, but simply wait for the link to refresh.

I can't wait for support for more than 8x formations. I'm sorry I did not read many pages of this thread, but perhaps someone could tell me if the developer said it is unlikely, likely, difficult, possible, etc? Timeframes, perhaps? Oh, I would so love to see independents, along with objectives such as "Take -- by air assault". Coordinating objectives, like 1st attack this, 2nd attack that, 3rd combine those two forces to a two-pronged attack on another place.

[woodyB 10]

Hi William,

This is fantastic! Thank you! I found the process to be easy and glitch free. I'm making some fun P missions and learning more about strategy::bounce3:

Edited September 1, 2010 by maj_woody

[Muahaha 10]

William, any plans to add in the Iraqis army mod and Shapur?

[woodyB 10]

one issue im having now, my teams form up and get into position, but the attack phase never initiates. Should I be waiting along time for the attack to commence? Or is something wrong?

[_William 0]

one issue im having now, my teams form up and get into position, but the attack phase never initiates. Should I be waiting along time for the attack to commence? Or is something wrong?

I've seen teams form up and wait for a long time for the following reasons:

- patch 1.54 contains a bug in AI behavior causing teams to remain stuck in combat and stealth behavior: work-around is to install and use the latest beta patch

- one of the team member's gets wounded, and moves to the form-up position at a very slow pace; Arma2 doesn't cut stragglers from the team even though they would be incapable of contributing to the upcoming fight

- one of the vehicle based teams loses a vehicle, and the remaining crew move to the form-up location on foot

- on Takistan, one of the team members gets stuck on scenery (notably rocks), reportedly cause by the scenery; I've submitted a bug report on this.

I typically launch Arma2 with the troopmon2 mod, which is in-game tool to inspect all team and visualize their positions. When in doubt, I press escape, select troopmon and try to figure out what is going on. Troopmon2 works fine for Arma2OA/CO except in Northern Takistan.

Feel free to send me a private message with your mission's name. I then will check it myself.

---------- Post added at 05:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:50 PM ----------

William, any plans to add in the Iraqis army mod and Shapur?

If somebody comes up with TO&E data for the (pre-2003) Iraqi army, I'll add it. I need compositions of rifle fire teams, rifle squads, AT teams and tank platoons. Most likely the Iraqi army was structured in Soviet Union style.

Wrt Shapur: the map itself is too small (2km x 2km). Furthermore, the terrain (the shapur.wrp file and shapur.config) might be part of the BAF DLC pbo's which current tooling cannot decrypt. In other words, no.

[Muahaha 10]

If somebody comes up with TO&E data for the (pre-2003) Iraqi army, I'll add it. I need compositions of rifle fire teams, rifle squads, AT teams and tank platoons. Most likely the Iraqi army was structured in Soviet Union style.

Is this what you are looking for?

http://orbat.com/site/agtwopen/Iraq_army.pdf

http://collinsj.tripod.com/iraqi_army.htm

[_William 0]

Transport planning, RHS cargo-system, Russian motorized/mechanized forces

Inspired by the RHS cargo system, the transport of units in generated missions has been overhauled. Check this thread and the documentation that comes with the cargo system for details.

First, I've added all scripting required for the player and AI to mount and dismount the exterior seats offered by the RHS cargo system, for their BTR-70 and the Arma2:OA BTR-60PB and BRMD-2 (which is what RHS currently supports).

Second, I've enabled transport units to pick up multiple cargo units when this yields the quickest way for all units to move to a form-up area or defensive position. Up to four pickups are allowed, which should suffice to load a Bradley platoon with four independently operating dismounted squads. To trigger multiple pickups, make sure to place the transport unit and cargo units close to each other.

Third, a bunch of units were added: RHS's BTR-70 and BMD-2, SLAYERs digital camo Russian infantry in woodland and desert variants, SARMAT's VDV infantry (to go with the BMD-2s) and the Mi-28N Havok (community-effort).

Finally, the planning step has been made less confusing, thanks to feedback in this thread.

For details see this update.

Next steps

- air assaults (web interface done, planner capable of picking LZs and planning ingress/egress routes, multiple cargo supported, further mission planning to be done)

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 PM ----------

This is positively fantastic. Magnificent work.

I can't wait for support for more than 8x formations. I'm sorry I did not read many pages of this thread, but perhaps someone could tell me if the developer said it is unlikely, likely, difficult, possible, etc? Timeframes, perhaps? Oh, I would so love to see independents, along with objectives such as "Take -- by air assault". Coordinating objectives, like 1st attack this, 2nd attack that, 3rd combine those two forces to a two-pronged attack on another place.

Thanks for the feedback and question. PlannedAssault today is a single-man effort (mine :D ).

I do intend to experiment with offering more than 8 units and multiple objectives per side; both are restrictions imposed by the web front-end, not by the planner, to keep planning times acceptable.

I'm inclined to deploy this as an option to a selected set of users who currently create extensive battles and show good understanding of the planner.

Time wise, I need to complete airborne assaults and its aftermath (in terms of user suggestions and fixes) first. Think October.

---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:59 PM ----------

Is this what you are looking for?

http://orbat.com/site/agtwopen/Iraq_army.pdf

http://collinsj.tripod.com/iraqi_army.htm

Both publications don't describe small unit compositions.

Kind of ironic how many books and articles have been published on Desert Storm and Cobra II and how little attention is paid to the Iraq PoV and forces.

[_William 0]

Youtube video showing battlefield troop transport

A video to show the battlefield transport generated as part of a PlannedAssault mission, primarily from the player's point of view.

B1He16_CGQg

William

[kremator 1065]

Nice one !

[Hooli_eco 10]

Hi William,

Fantasitc concept you've got here. A lot of people that have the time to play Arma2 but not to make missions will have great fun with this, I'm sure.

One question though. I've tried registering a few times but never received a confirmation email to various email addresses.

Could you investigate this for me?

Thanks,

Jamie

[_William 0]

WIP Air Assault + Request for Feedback

I've updated the site with the status, open issues and screen shots of the upcoming "air assault" upgrade. I'm about one week of tweaking and testing away from adding "air assault", and currently trying to tackle the issues listed below.

I'd appreciate suggestions or feedback wrt the UI.

I'd also appreciate suggestions tackling the following issues when landing a group of multiple helicopters to unload cargo (multiple squads) followed by a quick lift off and egress:

- helicopters flying into the ground (especially large helicopters and helicopters flying in formation).

- helicopters not lifting off after unloading their cargo (issue w GET OUT requiring the cargo to move to the GET OUT location before the waypoint completes; I'm already using a large completion radius)

- helicopters lifting off before unloading their cargo

- helicopters and cargo waiting for crashed group members instead of lifting off or disembarking. The AI isn't always aware it has lost units or it doesn't decide to ignore straggling units.

William

p.s. Hooli_eco: see PM

Edited October 5, 2010 by _William

[_William 0]

Air assault completed!

PlannedAssault has been updated with the capability to generate air assaults (in addition to combined arms maneuvers, flanking attacks, planned/reactive air strikes and artillery missions, defensive counter attacks, battlefield transport, ...).

See this post for more info and screen shots.

I've had a fun week trying to achieve more robust helicopter behavior. Switching to touchdowns on multiple invisible "H" spots turns out to be a big improvement over the hovering landings, because helicopters don't fly into each other that often.

Aircraft collisions with the ground have been reduced by bumping the flying height for almost any helicopter except the MH-6 Little Birds.

Another improvement is using stealth (to fly without lights) combined with disableAI "TARGET" and "AUTOTARGET" during ingress, so the aircraft remains on course to the LZ even when spotting threats. Aircraft gunners do respond when being shot at.

Adding air assaults has been a lengthy and large upgrade. I'd appreciate hearing your experiences (both good and bad) here in order to apply fixes where necessary.

William

[KeyCat 131]

Awesome work William! Hope to get some free timeslots to check it all out...

/KC

[TonnyRat 0]

william,

I'm still having trouble with the air assaults when using a heli w/ weapons. The script is generating the landing zone way to close to the target area and because of this the AI pilots won't land and instead will try to attack the enemies on the ground with the side door machine guns. I had this problem with the Blackhawk and Chinook.

If I only use the little birds, everything works 100%. I'd imagine if you put the LZ a bit further away from the enemies it would greatly help solve this problem since they only seem to change into attack mode when they're extremely close to the LZ.